Clara’s Verdict
An important disclosure before anything else: this listing for Powerless by Elsie Silver is the French-language edition, narrated in French by Melody Desnues and published by the French audiobook imprint Audiolib. The synopsis, the narration, and all available listener reviews are in French. English-language listeners who have arrived at this page looking for the original English edition of the Chestnut Springs series should be aware that this is not it. The original English edition exists separately and should be sought through a different listing. If you are a French-language listener, or a francophone reader who wants to follow this series in audio, or someone learning French who wants to engage with popular romance fiction in translation, read on.
Powerless is Book 3 in Elsie Silver’s Chestnut Springs series, which has built a substantial international following in the new adult romance genre. This French edition is part of a broader pattern of popular English-language romance being made available to French-speaking audiences through professional translation and publication by Audiolib, one of France’s principal audiobook imprints.
About the Audiobook
Published by Audiolib on 27 August 2025, this French-language edition runs for 10 hours and 32 minutes. The story follows the shift in Sloane and Jasper’s relationship from longstanding childhood friendship to something more, catalysed by the collapse of Sloane’s wedding and a road trip that forces both characters to confront feelings long suppressed. Jasper is the hockey star whom everyone admires and who has always been there for Sloane – but something changed for him the moment she got engaged to someone else. The journey of this book is, in significant part, about Jasper’s willingness to prove he can be the person Sloane deserves, rather than the person his life has trained him to be.
Chestnut Springs is known for its interconnected cast and for the emotional continuity between volumes – secondary characters from earlier books carry genuine weight in later ones. This third entry will land most fully for listeners who have accompanied Sloane and Jasper from the series’ beginning. The book carries 4.5 out of 5 from 352 listeners on Audible, primarily from French and French-Canadian listeners, which reflects a genuine and enthusiastic readership for this French edition specifically. A note on content: the listing includes a disclosure about descriptions of risky sexual practices, and prospective listeners should be aware of this.
The Narration
Melody Desnues brings a fluid, warm reading to the material that French listeners have responded to positively and consistently. Romance narration requires a voice capable of carrying both emotional intimacy and lighter comedic moments without losing register across ten hours, and Desnues handles the dual requirements of the material with professional ease. The Audiolib production quality is reliable and consistent with the imprint’s standards – clean recording, appropriate pacing, professional execution throughout. For French-language listeners evaluating the audio quality of this edition, the production represents the professional standard you would expect from a major French audiobook publisher.
What Readers Say
clementsegonne (5 stars): « Fidele aux autres tomes de la saga Chestnut Springs. Un coup de coeur pour les protagonistes du livre, une plume fluide encore une fois. » (Faithful to the other volumes in the Chestnut Springs series. Fell in love with the protagonists, fluent writing once again.)
cath M (5 stars): « Jasper et Sloane sont attachants comme le reste de cette famille. J ai lu cette histoire tres vite et j adore cette serie. Et le bonus sur Harvey a chaque fin de tome est une pepite. » (Jasper and Sloane are as endearing as the rest of this family. I read this story very quickly and I adore this series. The Harvey bonus at the end of each volume is a gem.)
boulineau fabienne (5 stars): « J ai devore toute la serie. » (I devoured the whole series.)
For context on where this volume sits in the series: Chestnut Springs follows a group of interconnected families and friends in a small town setting, with each book focusing on a different romantic pairing while continuing the threads of those around them. Flawless is the first book, Reckless the second. The Harvey character, mentioned warmly in the reviews – « the bonus on Harvey at each end of a volume is a gem » – is a recurring presence whose comic energy has clearly become a reader favourite across the French editions. That kind of serial warmth is part of what the Chestnut Springs series does particularly well, and this third volume is built on a foundation of goodwill toward these characters that listeners who have followed from Book 1 will feel immediately.
Who Should Listen?
This edition is for French-language listeners who want to experience Elsie Silver’s Chestnut Springs series in audio form. As the third book in the series, it rewards having read or listened to Flawless and Reckless first, for the emotional context and character relationships that make this volume’s developments meaningful and earned. English-language listeners should seek out the original English edition. French romance readers who already love this series will find a well-produced, faithfully performed audio adaptation here. Those entirely new to the series in French should begin at Book 1, both for the narrative continuity and because the world of Chestnut Springs is built to be experienced in sequence.
